Antibiotic resistance

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What is antibiotic resistance?

Antibiotic resistance is when an antibiotic no longer works and is not effective against fighting infections. It’s caused by the unnecessary and over use of antibiotics. It affects everyone and is one of the biggest public health threats facing the world.

Taking antibiotics when we don’t need to helps bacteria become stronger. This can lead to the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria. This can cause serious infections that then become difficult or not possible to treat.

Find out more about antibiotic resistance and why it is such a problem by watching this short video.

What we can all do to help

We can’t stop antibiotic resistance but we can slow it down by preserving the antibiotics we currently have for now and future generations. We need to act fast and together before we enter an era where no antibiotics work.

You can slow down bacterial resistance by:

not taking antibiotics every time you’re ill. Antibiotics make very little difference to colds, flu, sore throats and coughs

taking antibiotics exactly as they're prescribed. Never save them to use in the future or give them to someone else